Indian Psychology is a holistic field drawing from India's ancient spiritual and philosophical traditions (like Vedanta, Yoga, Buddhism) to understand consciousness, mind, and behavior, focusing on the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit, with goals like self-realization and liberation, differing from Western psychology's empirical, individualistic focus by emphasizing inner experience, spiritual evolution, and practices like meditation for deeper human understanding.
Key Aspects
Holistic Approach: Integrates mind, body, and spirit, viewing humans as spiritual beings.
Core Concepts: Explores consciousness, the self (Atman), and suffering rooted in ignorance, aiming for self-realization.
Foundations: Draws from texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and philosophies of Vedanta, Yoga, Samkhya, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Practices: Utilizes meditation (Dhyana), Yoga, mindfulness, rituals, and introspection for well-being.
Perspective: Offers an "inside-out" or "top-down" view (spiritual origin) versus Western psychology's "bottom-up" (materialistic) approach.
Comparison with Western Psychology
Western: Focuses on empirical methods, individualistic, often separates mind from body/spirit, aims for mental health.
Indian: Emphasizes experiential wisdom, holistic integration, consciousness as central, aims for ultimate liberation (Moksha)
Indian psychology subscribes to methodological pluralism and especially emphasizes universal perspectives that pertain primarily to a person's inner state, and are not otherworldly, religious, or dogmatic, and with special emphasis on applications that foster the positive transformation of human conditions toward achievement and well-being. Indian psychology views itself as complementary to modern psychology, capable of expanding modern psychology's limits, and capable of being integrated with many parts of modern psychology. Other scholarly and scientific fields that are relevant to Indian psychology and often partly overlap with it include modern scientific psychology, neurophysiology, consciousness studies, and Indian philosophy and religion.
